Hog Days Stampede results provide good after-fest reading

Friday

Sep 7, 2012 at 10:24 PMSep 7, 2012 at 10:26 PM

Names from the past surface

Dave Clarke

I always wrap up my Hog Days each year by kicking back and enjoying a little light reading — specifically, the results of the Hog Days Stampede.Why would I read lines with hundreds of tiny names and times?First, a little history. The Star Courier started running a complete list of race results in the 1980s when we were owned by Lee Enterprises. It’s something we do for no other run, but the Stampede — the 36th this year — has always been a major event, attracting hundreds of runners and walkers. We liked how the Quad-City Times, also a Lee newspaper, filled full pages with tiny lines for each person who participated in their big race — the Bix 7. The job of preparing the pages for the day-after edition was — and still is — a formidable task which has become only a little easier over the years, in spite of advances in technology. Getting the results from the race to page has always been the only job of the weekend for Star Courier newsroom staffer Rocky Stuffelbeam — and it usually takes all weekend just to get the results in useable form.Thankfully, we have never had to type all 600 or so names, placings, hometowns and times, by hand. Each year it seems we have a mini-crisis that endangers getting the results in the paper, but we (Rocky) have never missed a Tuesday after Hog Days paper with every iota of information about the four-mile Stampede and one-mile run. This year there were 399 people who completed the four-mile Stampede, and 120 finished the one-mile run, for a total of 519 names. Rocky points out that there were probably a few “no shows” or incompletes due to the weather this year which would have increased the numbers.We keep printing the results because we know people like to read them, and not just the runners and walkers. They are sort of an accounting of who ran and who made it back for Hog Days. The race has become an annual tradition for many families with several members taking part, and shows the “pull” the Stampede has to bring people both to — and back to — Kewanee.I could not run more than 100 feet if my life depended on it, nor do I have more than passing interest in who won, but every year, like many folks, I sit down, squint my eyes, and go through the Stampede results.This year, people came from 20 states outside of Illinois to run and walk the streets of Kewanee.The first thing I noticed this year was that Kewanee runners Jeff King, third overall, and John Grice, in sixth place overall, finished in the top 10 of the four-mile. Stark County State’s Attorney Jim Owens was 29th.Wethersfield Lady Geese basketball coach Becky Ince was the third female to cross the finish line.I even caught a typo — one that probably would not have normally been caught by the scrutinizing eye. Finishing 41st was “Gerard Bux,” of Chicago. I happen to know Kewanee funeral director Jerry Rux’ real first name is Gerard and that he has a son who lives in Chicago. There could be a Gerard Bux in Chicago who came to Kewanee to run, but the similarity made it worth checking. I called the funeral home and son Dan informed me that Gerard RUX is the 15-year-old son of his brother, John, of Chicago, which makes him grandfather’ Jerry’s namesake. Glad we got that cleared up!In 61st and 62nd, respectively, were former Annawan basketball standout Robinson twins — Lisa, who now lives in Peoria, and Lynette, of Columbia, Mo. Their proud mother, Pris, said the girls, in spite of their basketball coaching careers taking them all around the country, have always come back to run at Hog Days.There are always familiar names from the past — Bruno Kapacinskas, who now lives in Dixon, Julie (Quagliano) Westem, now of Arlilngton, Va., and Matt Oswald, now of Carol Stream, to name a few. And when did Tawnie Rashid move to Denver?KWQC-TV reporter Fran Riley was in the race, as well as Steve Halverson, of Monona, Wis., who we told you about in Saturday’s column. Halverson, who once lived in Kewanee and always comes back for the race, wore MIA Marshall Price’s bracelet on the 40th anniversary of his disappearance on a bombing mission over North Vietnam in 1972. Several other familiar names spotted were Central School principal Jason Anderson, who was the 100th runner across the finish line; former Kewanee Presbyterian pastor James Breed, now of Elizabeth, Ill.; and Jim Summers, oldest son of former Hotel Kewanee owners Charles and Pat Summers, who now lives in Evansville, Ind.I also noticed Joy Hernandez, of Indianapolis, in the one-mile results. She is a news photographer for the local CBS TV affiliate, operates her own art gallery in Indy, and has been featured in past columns.As for the youngest and oldest runners, there were a number of names in the final results of the one-mile race with single-digit ages, the youngest being A.J. Ince of Bloomington at 4 years old. The youngest to complete the four-mile was Ava Lafollette, 7, a second-grader at Irving School, who finished 329th.My eyes widened, however, when I saw a familiar name — Lamont Webster, a fellow member of the Rotary Club of Kewanee. Lamont finished the four-mile run in 379th place, which is pretty respectable when you know Lamont’s age is a young 84 years and, not only is he the oldest person to finish the race, he finished ahead of 20 other runners. That’s pretty amazing! There were also other names I recognized for one reason or another, far too many to mention, but it indicates what a snapshot of who comes to Hog Days and from where the Stampede has become, even when it rains.